COE episode 4 review post
Well…crap. I’ve spent the last eight months trying not to be gutted by what could happen in this series due to spoilers…and they go and actually do it. It is really hard not to feel cheated and betrayed, which I know probably sounds bloody hilarious that I am in such grieving over a fictional character…but there it is.
The thing is, there is so much to CELEBRATE about the series! Tight storylines-YES! Suspension and action-YES! Character development…well…a bit lukewarm, there, actually.
I dunno. I guess why I was left feeling so disappointed post eppy 3 was that we, as fans, has been promised real relationship development between ianto and jack, and up to this point, any interaction between them this season felt lukewarm at best, and at some points downright cold. Such a departure from what I had been hoping for. And for the actors to promise this was something the fans would enjoy? I fail to see how anyone could enjoy a plotline that largely subsumes completely the original premise of Torchwood being about a team who dealt with aliens, good or bad, and who acted on the best of the human race. I'm not blaming the actors for lying--that's what they're paid to do, but it's hard not to have some anger at feeling misled.
Now, with Ianto’s death, now we’re left with what? The Jack and Gwen show-who unless something drastic happens in episode 5 is pretty much committed to Rhys…so…way to paint yourself into a corner, storywise. What a waste, really. I don’t mean to place undue pressure here, but the closest we come in the U.S. is some oblique references in a cop drama “Southland” where there are some very vague references to a main character being in a same-sex relationship…baby steps, America.
THAT’S why Torchwood was so interesting to me-that labels and sexual categories didn’t exist within the confines of the HUB and Captain Jack's view of the world-how cool was that? Killing the sexual-identity-confused main squeeze of the main star….not as cool. You want exciting fan reaction? How about alienating the fanbase that gave you a chance of survival in the first place? Does that work? I’m sure it did and you could give a flying fig that killing yet another main character will be seen as “dramatic” and “edgy”. I’m sure you’ll find great success, RTD, in abandoning yet another series on your quest to superstardom. (Wow reading this the next day--I was really angry then. now, I am just incredibly, unbelieveably sad).
Sorry to sound so bitter, but it takes a lot for me to be as invested in a character as I was In Ianto, so my hat’s off to you in that respect. He was a wonderfully nuanced, multilayered character who I fell in love with immediately. But to have promises given that fans will be so happy with the way the series evolves, vis a vis the development of the main characters, really leaves me out in the cold.